Our Little Secret
by Whinnie
Summary: "... weak." First Sonic fic ever; just don't read, LOL.


**_Our Little Secret_**_  
By Whinnie_

_Hi everyone! This is my first Sonic fic, so please don't go saying to me that I'm a great writer before you've even read the story... Oh yeah, thanks, for reading, and I hope you enjoy this oneshot! -  
By the way, just as I metioned, this is a oneshot. This fic contains no more than one chapter. I'm sorry, fans, but I will not be updating this any more except to correct minor mistakes or add some missing words or parts. - I know, I'm sorry. But if you want, I can write another story for you if you'd like! -_

**IMPORTANT, LONG NOTE: This story contains Shadow/Rouge. It takes place after the new multi-platform game, SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG, and inspired by one of the game's songs, CHOSEN ONE. (By the way, I tried inserting the lyrics for CHOSEN ONE into the fic, but I couldn't find the just-right spots to put them, so... Sorry. If you want the lyrics, I can give them to you, though. -) This fic also contains a few bad words and some violence, so I think only teens should read this. ;-) THERE IS NO ARCHIE, SATAM, ETC. IN HERE, so if you like Princess Sally or something like that, or if you were expecting more than stupid old Sega, 2 bad. Oh yeah, and the story is sorta farfetched and I know it really doesn't fit in with the ending of SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG, but I haven't really beaten all the game, so... Forgive me:-) By the way, at one point in this story, there will be a little reference to Star Fox Assault... Just thought you'd know. - AND sorry for the long author's note:-P**

* * *

Rouge the Bat stood on the now highest building of Central City, beside Amy Rose. Both girls stood mortified at the sight below them. Little fires spewed here and there, from cars to ruined trees and once beautiful flowers; large pieces of concrete, road signs, metal, and other pieces of debris lay all over the remainder of undestroyed sidewalks; buses, trucks, and two skyscrapers had been overturned and now lay in front of the City Hall; a chunk of the main street had been ripped out and thrown on a bridge. _"It's horrifying..." _the pink hedgehog thought, shutting her eyes tightly. She wished she was at home, in bed, under the covers, ANYWHERE as long as it wasn't here. _"All those innocent bystanders..." _A tear leaked out as she thought of the 550 people killed, and their relatives who were drowning in sobs for them.

On the other side of the city, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, and Espio the Chameleon were standing on an upside down bus. Shattered glass shards surrounded the vehicle as the three animals surveyed the damage. A few hours ago, they had been on the run from danger, trying to save the world. Now, for the first time, they had gotten to rest ever since the big ordeal, and for the first time, they had gotten to see the REAL damage that totaled nearly the whole city. Sonic sighed, wiping cold sweat out of his quills. Tails stayed quiet, while Espio observed a little longer and then remarked, "Shadow did a pretty good job down here."

"Quit talking about Shadow!" Sonic snapped, plopping down on the bus, exhausted. He threw up his hands. "We've been chasing and running from him for hours!" he exclaimed. "I don't wanna talk or hear about him for the next 7 days." Espio turned away. "I suppose you're right..."

Tails just shuddered. "Will we even be here in 7 days?" he asked himself quietly.

* * *

"Come on, we can't stay here forever." Rouge turned toward Amy, who was kneeling on the floor now with her eyes closed. The bat sighed sadly, then bent down a little and said, "Hey, it's alright, don't worry about it." Amy just nodded, wiped away the tears, and let Rouge help her up. The two girls walked to the far end of the building and slid down the ladder which had brought them up.

As soon as Amy stepped onto the ground, she felt dizzy. _"I knew I shouldn't have let Rouge bring me down here..." _she thought. The view was even worse from here than it was from up there! Rouge gasped a little as well, not expecting it to be this bad. Despite their grief, however, both made their way slowly down the street. "Do you see Cream?" Amy weakly asked, clutching her stomach. Rouge rubbed her arms to keep them warm, then shook her head and slowed down so the sick hedgehog could catch up.

A few minutes later, Amy could see something in the distance. "Hey look, Rouge!" she said excitedly, suddenly losing all her nausea. "It's Vector!" Running to catch up with the boss of the Chaotix, Rouge sighed, looked up, and then picked up her pace.

"Yo, ladies, what's up?" The crocodile asked them. Amy explained everything - how they had lost Cream and the others, what happened to the city after they had scrambled up the building to safety, and when Rouge thought she saw Shadow. The bat scowled at this, but said nothing. _"I just know that was Shadow up there," _she told herself. _"I know it, and I won't let them take that fact away from me."_ With a new sense of confidence, she joined the conversation.

"Oh, be quiet, Amy," she said. "But I **know **I saw him," she added seriously. Vector just shrugged and started down the sidewalk. Amy and Rouge looked at each other, then followed suit. Finally, he said, "I think I know where Sonic is."

* * *

Charmy and Cream wandered through the dark streets, clutching onto each other's wrists. "Chao chao chao," Cheese, Cream's pet Chao, told her in a frightened tone.

"Don't worry, Cheese, I'm sure we're out of danger," the cream-coloured rabbit tried to reassure her friend. But yet, she wasn't sure if they were, let alone WHERE they were. "Charmy," she asked silently as they turned another corner, "where are we going?"

The bee finally sighed. "I don't know," he admitted. Then he added, "But you're lucky you weren't with that Shadow guy when he helped my find those GUN disks. He was saying the D-word, and when this cool worm came out, he told it to go to hell!" Cream gasped at Charmy's language. It may have suited him, but...

There was a clicking noise. Cream turned around nervously. Charmy noticed this, and then laughed. "Don't worry, Cream, that's just me!" he told her cheerfully, repeating the noise with his fingers. "See?" Cream laughed, scolding herself silently for being so nervous. _"It could've been worse," _she thought. _"What if Charmy wasn't with me? What if Mama was trapped here?"_ With a sigh that showed relief and more confidence, she took an eager step forward.

The clicking continued. And continued. And continued. "Uhm, Charmy, can you stop?" she asked him as polite as she could. "Uhm... Sure, I suppose," Charmy said. So the clicking stopped. A few minutes later, it started again. "Charmy..." Cream started. The bee just smiled sheepishly. A few more minutes after that, it continued. "Charmy, please!" Cream finally burst out, obviously annoyed. Charmy stared at her, gaping, in realization. "B-but, C-cream," he stammered, "t-that's not me..." Both 6-year-olds turned to face each other. "T-then, wh-what's that?" The rabbit asked in a timid voice. Charmy just shrugged, trying to mask his fear, and continued on.

Until he heard the voice behind them. "Well, well, well," a figure in the shadows sneered. "If it isn't the rabbit that needs saving and the bee who needed the GUN disks."

* * *

"Oh, Sonic, where **were **you and Tails?" Amy asked relievingly, clutching onto the hedgehog and fox. Her hug was not as agressive or choking as it was previously; it was soft and light, but she felt... cold. Tails shivered. "Uhh... Amy?" he asked her. "You can... get off now." Surprisingly, she complied and stepped beside Espio and Vector, who were now conversing softly on what to do next.

Rouge landed on one side of the bus they were standing on and sat down, exhausted. They had found the blue hedgehog and the others, but what about the echidna? The two young ones...? And Omega? _"That guardian is old enough to take care of himself,"_she thought tiredly, _"and Omega probably went to destroy more of Eggman's things, but I hope the rabbit and bee aren't in any danger, for Amy's sleep out of her eyes, she got up once again and found Knuckles with Vector. Surprisingly, Cream and Charmy were there, too, and E-123 Omega was behind them, rambling on about finding Eggman's latest creation and putting it to death just a few minutes before. "I guess my thoughts did wonders,"she told herself with a smile. "But if I think about Shadow, will he be here, too?" she wondered out loud. Knowing it wouldn't hurt, she closed her eyes and thought of all the things they had done together: on ARK, in that metal prison after she had fought that GUN robot, on the beach and that ocean island, the casino city... There were so many places._

"Ms. Rouge, are you okay?" A voice behind her said. Cream was standing behind her. "We're leaving right now, Ms. Rouge," the rabbit told the purple bat. Holding out her hand, she asked, "Are you coming?" Rouge was a bit impressed at the girl's manners, and gave off a smile. It wasn't sly, or not one that she gave the government, but a genuine one. She had not smiled like this for 2 years. Following the rabbit, she caught up with the others. They walked through the debris-filled streets.

Until they heard the voice behind them. Amy turned around first, and screamed. One by one, everyone turned around to look at the figure who had spoken to them. Tails gasped, Cream clutched Knuckles's hand, Rouge looked down, and Charmy ran behind Espio and Vector, while the chameleon and crocodile just stared, each wanting to say something, yet not being able to get the words out. Sonic didn't turn around at all, only stopped walking.

Shadow was perched on the edge of a rooftop, a sniper rifle in one hand, a ball of Chaos energy in the other. Black Doom was behind him, while his Eye floated around him. All 7 Chaos Emeralds surrounded all 3. An army of Black Arms soldiers stood behind them, armed with swords and a large variety of guns.

"Shadow?" Amy spoke up first. "I-is that... you?" The black hedgehog smirked at her. "The one and only, Shadow the Hedgehog, created for destruction of this planet and its weak mortals," he answered her.

"Mr. Shadow," Cream said next, in her innocent voice, "do you believe violence is the answer to all our problems?" Both of their eyes locked, his crimson hues boring straight into her chocolate ones. "I was created for a reason," he stated simply. "Little rabbit, I believe guns and killing aren't going to solve all problems, but in this case, it will solve one simple problem."

"Shadow, stop!" That was Tails. "Please, why are you hurting humans? They didn't want to destroy you, they needed you to protect them! And here, you're doing the opposite!" Tails stopped for a moment, and then added, "Shadow, please stop... It's not doing any good right now, for any of us, including you."

The group then broke out in an angry and pleading chorus. "Shadow, stop!" "Why are you doing this?" "You deserve to go to hell!" "Knuckles, stop saying that! And Shadow, stop this!"

Black Doom finally turned towards Shadow. "Shadow, get rid of them," he instructed in his usual rough voice. "I want you to meet me at the Black Comet when you're done with these obstacles." With that, he and Doom's Eye disappeared.

Shadow closed his eyes, his leader's voice still in his head. Finally, he ordered to the soldiers, "Get them." The aliens charged full force, and some started firing with their guns. However, they were still no match for the team of heroes: Sonic used his usual incredible speed; Tails used his tails to whip the enemies in the face; Knuckles fought hand-to-hand combat; Amy and Cream paired up together, the pink hedgehog using her Pico Pico Hammer, while Cheese and the rabbit backed her up; Rouge used her dummy rings; Vector, Espio, and Charmy played their usual crazy tune which drove EVERYONE nuts. Shadow just watched as the aliens got beaten up, one by one, lying in a dead heap all over the street. With his usal smirk, he jumped off the roof and landed silently on the ground, heading towards the group calmly. Cream shrieked as Amy tried calming the crying rabbit down. Shadow continued on towards them, not even stopping once until he was in front of them.

"You win," he stated simply, dropping the rifle on the ground. _"But not yet," _he thought to himself. He kicked Sonic in the face, simply pushed Cream onto the ground, threw Tails against the nearest building, and gave Amy a few simple shakes before she fell. Only Knuckles and Rouge were left. "Rouge, I just want to let you know..." the echidna started as the black hedgehog mde his way toward him.

"You want me to stay away from your Emerald," the bat said plainly, one hand on her hip. Knuckles feebly nodded at her without a word, then got into a tough fighting stance as Tails regained his consciousness, and a bloody-faced Sonic weakly got up. "You go first," the echidna said to Shadow. His opponent just nodded slowly, closed his eyes as he shut his fists tightly, and then hissed, "Chaos Bomb." An orb of Chaos energy flew from his hand, and crashed straight into Knuckles, who was thrown back against the wall with a large amount of force; he immediately became unconscious.

Shadow turned back to Rouge. "You're next," he said, already firing up his next move. But before he could get any further, Sonic and Tails were already making their way to him. "Why don't you go pick on that Doom's Eye," Sonic said, eyes narrowed. He and Shadow had fought several times before, but never had their arguments gotten so heated and tense like this one. Tails took a deep breath, knowing that this battle could change (or end) his life forever. _"This is it,"_ he told himself. _"I'm ready for this. You're ready for this, Tails. YOU ARE READY."_ He felt himself break into a cold sweat as he followed behind his best blue buddy.

"I guess you won't be keeping down for quite some time, Sonic," Shadow said with a smirk. "I do realize, however, that your little follower is a bit timid about this," he added, referring to Tails. The two-tailed fox felt his face grow hot. _"Am I really Sonic's follower?"_ he questioned himself. _"I guess I am, seeing as how I'm always with him,"_ he said, answering his own question. _"But hey, I save him once in a while, too! So I guess that makes me a little more than a follower..." _Shaking these 'stupid' thoughts out of his head, he sighed. Shadow not only was weird, he **made **him feel weird...

"Let's get this show on the road!" Sonic said, already excited at fighting his rival once again. The two suddenly became blurs - one red, one blue - as they tried to outwit the other with their own special techniques. Tails could only watch in amazement; he had never really seen anything like this before. But after it was finished, he wished he was never there: Shadow punched Sonic directly in the stomach, gave him a hard kick across the face (again), and had tripped him thrice! _"Something sure is wrong with Sonic today," _Tails thought, confused. _"Maybe it's this battle, and Shadow's weirdness, or maybe it was something Knuckles put in his milkshake yesterday..." _Still confused, he sat down and watched the battle until Shadow won the fight and started to advance on the kitsune. "Say goodbye, little Tails," he said, before he brought his fist on top of the young one's head. It only took a few seconds for a big bump to show, and for Tails to lose consciousness of everything and anything around him.

Rouge was already gone. She had flown on top of a building in ruins, where she could see the whole city. _"I have to get away from him," _she thought sourly to herself. She was rarely in this case, in which she had to be like a coward and run away. _"But unless I'm looking for a death wish, I better not get him," _she told herself, sighing. Where could she go? Westopolis was in no better condition than this, and the mysterious cannon she had seen before was too far away. Rouge sighed once again, sitting down on the edge. _"I really hope Shadow doesn't find me here,"_ she thought, rather nervously. _"But back to my current situation: where can I hide?" _This city was no good; she obviously needed some other place, which hadn't been torn down by the Black Arms yet. **That **was a big problem. Still scratching her head, thinking hard, she stood up and took flight. "I might as well go to Cryptic Castle," she murmured. It was better to be in Eggman's territory than to trespass Shadow's.

* * *

"How... weak..." Shadow observed slowly, as he cruised through the streets in his skater shoes. The sniper rifle was once again in his hand. "This'll take out anyone who stands in my way," he said, impressed by the gun's power. Once out in space, he had crash-landed on a planet with lush forests and everlasting running rivers. Well, one part of the planet was... The other half was a vast city - in ruins. There were soldiers here and there, as well as weird spider-like things hanging from the broken highways. Secretly, but curiously, he had followed a fox who had made his way through the city, destroying the creatures with this sniper rifle. Shadow had picked it up after him when he accidently dropped it on his way to an 'Arwing'. _"Weird," _Shadow had thought to himself, but now he knew that the fox had just done what he'd had to.

Snapped out of his thoughts, he began looking for Rouge. _"I thought I saw her here." _He shook his head. _"No, it was in front of City Hall... Wait, maybe I should go there..." _Finally following a hopeful, helpful lead, he headed off and reached the important-before building in a few seconds. _"There she is!" _he thought, following the purple dot in the sky. Well, it took some time because she kept on veering off away from him. Finally, he was able to reach a clearing with no tall buildings, nothing to take away his attention. Looking into the sky with the built-in scope, he aimed, then pulled the trigger.

* * *

Rouge shrieked. She had seen him! _"I have to get away from him," _she thought frantically. First she attempted to hide behind buildings, broken skyscrapers, then tried evasive maneuvers: veering left, right, in zigzags, running away from him. Nothing worked. Finally, he had shot her down.

Now she lay in a small pool of blood. Shadow hovered around her. "Are you ready to watch me conquer this world?" he asked her with an evil smirk. Rouge just groaned in pain. "What do you want?" she asked him, slowly and calmly.

Shadow paused for a second, not really knowing where this was going, but then replied, "Complete destruction of this planet. I want every single human destroyed until they are classified as extinct. Then they will know they thought wrong about the Ultimate Life Form."

Rouge groaned in pain. "I think that's enough of an answer I needed..." she said, leaving the sentence hanging in the air. Both looked at each other for a moment, before Shadow spoke up. "I guess I've got to finish you up now," he told her, backing away to get a clear shot with the sniper rifle. Rouge sighed. "Wait!" she suddenly called. "I want you... to remember your past," she told him.

He scoffed. "I already know everything," he told her quietly. "From the day Maria died... until the time to conquering the world with Black Doom."

"But I want you to know it from my view," she said. The bat sighed, weakly turning around now, so she was lying on her stomach.

Shadow finally turned around. "What?" he asked. Rouge repeated. When he eyed her suspiciously, she just snapped, "Listen, I'm on the ground here, with blood from my wings, everyone else is dead, and you have enough ammo in that thing to destroy over half the government!" Shadow finally sighed and lowered his weapon a little as he listened to her story while keeping his guard up.

"Your name was Project Shadow," Rouge started off plainly. "You were built on ARK over 50 years ago by Gerald Robotnik, for the purpose of mankind's protection. You were the best friend of Gerald's cousin, Maria. Howev-" Shadow cut her off with an irritated sigh. "Let's get this over with," he just stated simply. "Tell me everything from when we started planning with the Eclipse Cannon." Rouge started over once again.

"Well, I wasn't really helping you and Eggman destroy the world... What I was really doing at the time was being a spy for the government. They wanted me to find out whether or not you were seriously Project Shadow." Now Rouge started picking at some dirt and grass. "So while you two were breaking into labs and government buildings, I was on ARK doing research on you, as well as running after pieces of the Master Emerald." Shadow rolled his eyes at this. _"Typical Rouge," _he thought to himself. "Anyway, when I was in that prison vault before the bomb we planted went off," she continued on, "you didn't really save me because of the Chaos Emeralds, did you?" Shadow flinched at this question; he hadn't really been expecting this. "I did it for the Chaos Emeralds," he stated simply, avoiding eye contact with her.

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"Shadow, stop lying! I _know _you did it for me!"

Shadow sighed. This girl was really hard to get by, wasn't she?

"Do you know what I think Maria's last wish to you was?" Rouge suddenly asked. Shadow wearily shook his head no. "Don't you think she'd want you to keep the whole earth happy?" the bat told him. "Didn't she want you to be happy and energetic, to keep up her spirit?" Shadow kept quiet. Finally, when the bat dared to go farther than that, she added, "I don't think you were Maria's true friend. You've been bre-" At this Shadow turned around and grabbed her arm, sqeezing it tightly but just enough to let the blood circulate around in her body.

"Listen," he said in the coldest voice Rouge had ever heard. "I don't care who you are, or what your business here is, I don't want to hear another word about Maria. Do you understand?" he told her, making every syllable in that last sentence simply clear. Rouge sighed, but nodded. _"I've only made this worse," _she thought miserably. Sighing again as Shadow dropped her arm, much to her relief, he stepped back. "I've got to get this over with," he told her quietly, bringing up the sniper rifle once again. Rouge just shook her head sadly, awaiting her death.

"Hi-yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Came a high, sqeaky voice from behind the bushes. Espio stepped out. Both Shadow and Rouge stared in surprise, then Rouge surpressed a grin that showed relief and confusion. The black hedgehog could only stare, ignoring the bat. Seriously, **Espio**, the toughest ninja with Sonic, made that noise? Finally, all he could do was burst out into laughs.

"Uhh... Sorry about that." Espio stared down at his feet. He was getting nervous. He _had _to do this. Not anyone else.

"So, you're asking for a deathwish, like her," Shadow mused out loud, raising his rifle to eye level. Now Espio was the one laughing. "No, not exactly," he replied to the remark. "You don't understand, do you?" The chameleon raised his eyebrows. "I thought you'd get it by now, but--" He was suddenly cut off when Sonic, Knuckles, and Vector, as well as Big the Cat jumped out from behind a broken skyscraper and pranced onto Shadow. (Well, not Big, he just helped hold him down...) Amy, Tails, and Cream came out after them, just as Charmy, the source of "Espio's 'squeaky' voice", stepped out from behind the bushes the ninja had jumped out from, slapping high fives with everyone. Meantime, Amy snatched the sniper rifle from Shadow, while Cheese and Chocola inspected its parts after breaking it down. "You lose," Tails said directly in Shadow's face.

"Gosh, are you okay, Ms. Rouge?" Cream asked, helping the wounded bat up. Rouge only nodded, letting Amy inspect the injuries. "We've got to get you to a hospital, now," the pink hedgehog finally said. After asking Tails for his cell phone, she called the emergency room in the next town, and they paramedics came on their way immediately, followed by 14 police cars, 5 officers in each car.

"Shouldn't I just take her?" Sonic asked. "Or Tails can fly her in the Tornado." But Tails shook his head. "There's no one else here to help pin Shadow down," he pointed out. "Shadow's pretty strong, especially when he gets mad, and we don't want him wrecking even more havoc." Shuddering at the thought he'd just mentioned out loud, he added, "Amy and I aren't that strong, Espio's smaller than Shadow, and Cream and Charmy can get hurt easily."

"I hate to agree with Tails," Amy murmured thoughtfully, not at all enraged at his comment, "but he's right." Then looking around, she questioned, "But what about the Tornado?"

Tails blushed a little. "Well, uh... I didn't really think we'd be needing it, so..." he trailed off, then continued. "...I didn't bring it along."

Sonic groaned. "Great, now we have to wait," he muttered, already impatient. Luckily for him, the paramedics arrived just a few seconds after his complaint. Unfortunately, over half the police troops had been called to man some roadblocks on the outskirts of town, so Shadow had just enough time...

"Shadow?" Rouge had asked the black hedgehog when everyone was too caught up in Sonic's complaints and Knuckles's remarks to pay her any attention. Now all he could do was listen to her... Ears flattened, like a rejected little kitten, he watched her out of the corner of his eye.

"Shadow?" Rouge tried again. He sighed, then snapped, "What?" Pausing to allow him to collect himself, she asked him softly, "Why did you do it?" This time he paused, reluctant to answer her. "Why did you want to kill off humans?" she asked him again.

"I... I don't know," he answered finally. "Did humans really wanted to kill me?" he asked softly, hurt inside at the thought of dear Maria's race turning against him.

Rouge paused. "I'm not sure," she finally replied. "But I know that even though a small fraction of the human species wouldn't want you around, all the others would be glad to have you." Smiling, she told him, "You've turned it around for a long time... 55 years, in fact." She winked at him, making him blush.

Shadow sighed as she stroked his head softly, reminding him of Maria. "I'm sorry, Rouge," he told her sadly. She just smiled back at him. "You should be," she said playfully, shoving him a little. Giving her a glare, Rouge laughed. "Sorry, sorry," she apologized, watching Shadow's frown turn into a little grin.

"Do you remember last year?" Rouge asked, urging Shadow to recall the memories Black Doom had not yet told him. "Tell me about it," he replied softly, and so she did.

Finally, they had to stop; the police arrived. "Bye, Shadow," the bat said softly so that he, and only he, could hear her. Waving to each other, he mouthed, "I'm sorry," then added, "Tell Amy and Cream, too." Rouge gave him a sly wink, then whispered back, "Our little secret." Shadow eagerly nodded before he was shoved into the backseat of a police car.

_"Oh, damn,"_ he thought. _"I can't let her get away this quick." _With a glare at the police officer, he suddenly hissed, "Chaos Control." As time and space slowed down for him, he quickly jumped out of the car, grabbed Rouge, and whispered, "I love you." The bat giggled, giving him a kiss before he set her down again and rushed back to make things set 'the way they were before'. 3 more seconds... 2, 1... He made it! Everything sped back up again as the cars sped off at a surprising speed. Rouge smiled.

_"Yep, it'll be our little secret," _she thought happily to herself as all the police drove away, leaving Sonic and his gang to themselves. She didn't worry about Shadow, for she knew he'd find some way out and make his way back to her... Where they would share their little secret.

And their little secret it remained... When suddenly, Sonic asked, "All right, who took the bracelet I got from Shadow on ARK?"

_

* * *

Yes, yes, I know it's bad... Alright, enough of all my comments. Again, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and once again, sorry for the long author's note. - Happy Holidays, y'all, from your fave author!_

_-- Whinnie  
December 2005 Happy Holidays!_


End file.
